


While There's Still Time

by CatatonicEngineers



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:33:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25387600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatatonicEngineers/pseuds/CatatonicEngineers
Summary: The concluding chapter of Reeve's babysitting-world-saving saga. Less animal crackers, more power of friendship fluff.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 99





	While There's Still Time

“Maybe we were a little late in noticing the trouble that we were getting into,” Reeve breathed out the lingering tension in his shoulders and neck. Fist shaking at his side, he raised his arm to the sky. “But, there's still time. We should still be able to get out of it!” The awful, stagnant moments before what would be their last stand felt endless. Time and space and the weight of the planet’s ultimate destiny formed a knot in his chest. If he breathed again, it might suffocate him, but he took a step forward. “Even if we can't get everything back to normal,” Reeve whispered. “We should be able to protect what's most important!”

A panicked shout broke his concentration long enough for him to look up from his phone. One of the evacuees was shaking Kunsel by the shoulders of his clunky uniform. The woman had a wild, hopeless look in her eyes, ringed with deep circles. A single duffel bag hung over one shoulder and several terrified children hovered nearby. “Are you kidding?” she screeched at Kunsel. “You want us to follow orders from a guy that’s playing games on his phone?”

Kunsel’s face was obscured by his helmet, but his head bobbed in Reeve’s general direction. “Ma’am, it’s imperative that everyone board the transports and get clear of the –”

“My husband is still in Sector 5!” She shook Kunsel again. “Send some real help. You Shinra scum can send SOLDIERs to war, but you can’t spare them to save your own people? I’m not leaving until emergency services arrive.”

“Ma’am –” Kunsel was struggling.

Reeve thumbed a few auto commands into his phone and slid Cait Sith’s controller into his front pocket. Taking his eyes off the battle sent prickles of anxiety through him. He’d been issuing orders without looking up from the screen and reengaging with his actual body brought on a momentary dizzy spell, like when he’d stare at a computer too long until the blue light made his vision spotty. Rubbing his eyes, Reeve cringed at the build up of grit and soot that lingered on his face.

Thirteen and a half hours. Thirteen and a half hours since the evacuation started, since he’d arrived in Midgar, since they’d been trying to beat time and get everyone clear of the destruction. Glancing at the black skyline, Reeve stifled a laugh. Meteor would hit any minute now. The electricity in the once thriving metropolis had gone out. Save a few generators and the emergency flares, not to mention the ever present red headlights of their transports, darkness settled over the ruins of Midgar as inescapable as the calamity to come.

He couldn’t let them see his resign. If the people believed there was still hope, they’d fight for their own survival.

Prying the woman off Kunsel, Reeve guided her towards the transports. “My apologies for being distracted. Please comply with all civil safety ordinances and take a seat inside Transport C.”

“I’m not going under the plate!” She wrenched her elbow free of his grip. “You think we’re stupid? How do I know the plate isn’t gonna come crashing down on our heads?”  
Reeve flinched and realized he’d move his hand towards his phone out of habit. He lowered his arm at the disgusted glare from the woman.

“Do not start playing that damn game again!” Her voice cracked. Crumpling her knees, she pulled one of the children against her. “Don’t any of you Shinra monsters care about us? We’re all just ants to you, aren’t we?” Sobs rattled her shoulders.

It was like when he flipped one switch on the reactors and all of the lamps flared to life. The kids started crying, their loud wails drawing the attention of the other evacuees until terrified faces were staring at him from every direction.

They wanted – needed – him to do something. Anything.

“There is no more Shinra.” Reeve shouted to be heard over the wailing of emergency sirens. “There are no more SOLDIERs.” He waved his hand at Kunsel and the few hundred security officers, former operatives, volunteers, medics, admins, and whoever else he’d managed to collect to aid the evacuation. “This is it. This is all there is. No other help is coming.” Reeve watched the harsh reality register in the tired faces of the citizens. “The president is dead. This is what happens when you borrow from the planet for too long. She always comes to collect. No one is above that, not even Shinra. But we have a chance to save ourselves, to save Midgar, and all of you need to help each other do it.”

“That’s right,” Kunsel climbed on top of a mound of rubble. “Director Tuesti is the highest ranking operative now. That makes him the new president!”

“Kunsel, no.” Reeve ran his hand over his face. That was exactly what he hadn’t said.

“So you should all listen to him!” The warning didn’t deter him. “Otherwise, you’re all gonna die when that thing hits.” He jerked his hand at Meteor. Kunsel was unhelpful at best, but Reeve was surprised to find that people were lining up for the transports. Perhaps they did need a leader, but not another president.

“Commissioner works better, I think.” Reeve murmured to Kunsel.

“Commissioner Tuesti wants everyone from Sector 8 on Transports C and D right now!” Kunsel shouted. He jumped down from the rubble and wagged his arms to direct the flow of traffic. 

It looked almost orderly. A sigh of relief built in Reeve’s chest, but he didn’t dare lower his guard yet.

“Where will we go if Midgar is destroyed?” The woman wiped her face and composed herself. She was leading the children by the arm, the oldest two helping the younger ones get in line. 

“There’s a place to the north of the city,” Reeve supplied. “On the outskirts.”

“What’s it called?”One of the kids asked, looking up at him as if he should have all the answers prepared.

“It’s called Edge.” Reeve wasn’t the most creative when it came to naming things on the spot. “Because it’s on the edge… of the city.”

“I wanna go to Edge!” The excitement and possibility made the little boy grin. His siblings were quick to join in.

“Yeah, me too!”

“Come on, let’s hurry!”

The woman paused before chasing after them. A tired smile crossed her face. “Thank you. Sorry about before. I hope you win your game.”

Reeve managed an exhausted laugh. “Me too.” The phone vibrated in his pocket. “Kunsel, get the next wave of transports ready. We have to keep moving. The Sector 7 outskirts, then 6, then 5. Make sure the medics have enough oxygen masks before going to the Red Zone.” Electrical fires had spread beyond Sectors 6 and 8. A blanket of smoke obscured the area. Evacuations would be difficult with limited visibility.

“Commissioner.” Kunsel sounded like he was saluting him, but Reeve didn’t look up.

He’d taken Yuffie’s advice on which materia to equip Cait Sith with and he sure as hell hoped he’d played the combination right. It was hard not to think of other strategies now, not to second guess and wonder, but the time for doubt had long since past.

“Hey, get away from that,” Reeve lurched forward when he noticed one of the store fronts was on fire. Looters had smashed in a window. “I said step away.”

“Or what?” One of them laughed and he realized the man was holding a gun. “Ain’t no SOLDIERs to stop us now. Where the hell do you get off givin’ orders?”

A shout from across the street answered for him. Engines revved and a gang of bikes surrounded the storefront.

“This guy did time in Corel, motherfuckers. The man said clear out. Now clear out.” The gang leader wagged a spiked bat in the air. Reeve didn’t think he’d ever seen looters scurry away that fast. Maybe if they’d tried that on the civilians, they would’ve gotten the transport situation under control faster. “All good, stuffed animal.” He waved. “Mayor Domino cleared the underground. Your people can use it as a rendezvous point.” 

“Oh, hi,” Reeve offered a belated greeting to his former cellmates. “Thanks for the help.”

“No problem,” the leader waved the bat. “Least I could do. Tryin’ to get my life back on track, yanno?” 

“Yeah, me too.” Reeve nodded. 

“Don’t worry.” The engines revved in a cloud of dust. “We’ll keep the streets clear for ya. Good luck!”  


That was more help than he’d expected. Reeve danced away from a line of medics carrying stretchers past and shouting to be heard over the chaos. Any help was more welcomed when they were practically duct taping broken arms back together. Supplies were in short supply. If this kept up, they’d run out in the next hour or so. 

He tried not to think about that as he turned his attention back to Cait Sith, half expecting the plush to be dead already. It never was very good at fighting. What he saw wasn’t the certain demise he’d expected, but something else entirely. They’d done it. Cloud had done it. They’d actually –

A sharp groan split the sky. Meteor impacted with the Sector 8 plate. The outer frame cracked under the weight and crashed to the buildings below. Screams were such a familiar melody that Reeve didn’t flinch. He only shouted at the evacuation teams to take cover in the underground. 

It wouldn’t protect them. The best they could hope for was time. 

Sephiroth was dead, but it was too late. Meteor had hit.

“Commissioner, over here!” Kunsel shouted from one of the smaller terrain vehicles. 

Reeve jumped onto the rim and held the railing for balance as they screeched for the underground. He grabbed Cait Sith’s trusty megaphone from his coat pocket and shouted orders to take cover. Once they were clear of the evacuation zone, he lowered the megaphone. “Kunsel,” Reeve murmured. “You know how people say death is like a roulette wheel?”

“Y-yeah.” Kunsel squeaked.

“Isn’t it more like a slot machine though?” Reeve laughed and from the look on Kunsel’s face he realized the gesture was more disconcerting than he’d intended. He tried to smooth Kunsel’s nerves by elaborating. “I mean, you never really know what you’re going to get, you just know it’s going to be something.” 

“Commissioner…”

“And probably not the something you’re expecting either. You might be thinking you’re about to take a bullet to the head behind a Shinra dumpster, then you roll sevens and realize it’s probably going to be a cosmic doom scenario instead.” Reeve shrugged. “Or any of a number of other things. Smashed by falling rubble, stabbed by looters, collapse from smoke inhalation.”

“Commissioner,” Kunsel sounded sick. “Do you still think there’s a chance for us to make it out of this?”

Reeve paused. He grinned and held up one finger, almost lapsing into his more natural Cait Sith voice. “Of course! I’m sure everything is gonna be just fine.”

The vehicle swerved and they braced against the door. Blue light cracked from the pavement, swirling upwards through the concrete. Reeve jerked his foot away where it dangled off the edge. He risked a glance behind them. The Lifestream rose up to meet Meteor.  
“It’s her.” Reeve whispered. 

“Who?” Kunsel coughed, plumes of smoke stinging their eyes.

Reeve didn’t answer him. The relief settled to grim certainty. The Lifestream had stopped Meteor, but the cataclysm wasn’t over. Half the plate rained down. The surrounding industrial complex glowed blue with raw energy, burning to rubble around them. Chunks fell from the sky as the remnants of Meteor crashed to the ground. This was, after all, the planet’s final judgment.

Like a slot machine indeed, Reeve smirked at his own grim metaphors. Safe from cosmic ruin, death by Lifestream exploding from planet core. Alright, that wasn’t the worst way to go.

Somehow they made it inside the underground. He found a spot near the tunnel entrance that still had decent reception, which was honestly a bit absurd and added to the insanity of the situation. Three bars. That wasn’t horrible. Death by Lifestream exploding from planet core, but really good WiFi until the end.

“I had everyone take refuge in the slums,” Reeve explained. “But I don’t know if it’ll be enough.” He sucked in a breath of stale air and choked on it. Coughing, Reeve thumbed a few commands in for Cait Sith. There wasn’t much left to do. Cloud and the others managed to get clear. That would have to be good enough. 

Another tower crashed down somewhere outside the tunnel and the signal weakened. 

“So I guess this is bye for now.” The phone felt slimy with sweat and grime. Reeve winced when he caught the slightly heightened panic to his already pitchy voice. What was there to say? He wasn’t going to apologize and AVALANCHE wouldn’t exactly miss his company. Seemed they were at an impasse. Besides, he wasn’t good with words. That was why he became an engineer. Machines were easier to communicate with. With another resigned shrug, he repeated Cait Sith’s farewell from earlier. It seemed the most appropriate. “Thank you for believing in me, even though I was a spy.”

He slid the phone back into his pocket. “Kunsel, what’s the status?”

“Sir,” Kunsel held a data pad out, its electronic beeps and whirs adding to the anxiety in the air. Fifteen and a half hours. Fifteen and a half hours since the evacuation started. “Sector 6 was fully evacuated before impact. Sectors 3 and 4 are also clear. Med teams Alpha and Omega report moderate casualties. Med team Zeta is low on supplies, but they can wait until the next transport reaches them. The Sector 8 plate is semi stable. Only half of it fell near the Red Zone.” He paused. “The Lifestream is –”

Reeve frowned. He’d seen a few people get caught by the scalding streams of energy already. “I know.” He turned back to Kunsel. “Make sure everyone knows to stay away from it.”

“Yes, sir, but –” Kunsel cleared his throat. “It hit Sector 5 already.”

“I know, we’ll have to redirect our efforts and send med teams there first.” Reeve rubbed his eyes, exhaustion creeping past adrenaline as it had been doing for time unaccounted.

“Commissioner,” there was something off about Kunsel’s tone. His normal panic sounded more hollow, resigned. “You don’t understand. Sector 5 has been completely compromised.”

“What?” Reeve’s head was already whirling with ways to adjust their triage team, how to account for whatever new catastrophe the sector was facing. It hadn’t been first priority. They’d had to choose which ones to evacuate first and he’d chosen. The weight of that reality formed a lump in his throat.

“It’s gone, sir.” Kunsel held up the scanner. When he zoomed in on Sector 5, high ebbs of energy registered all around, but the buildings, the roads, any life form readings – “We lost Sector 5.”

It was strange how words lost their meaning, falling like dice on a card table, one final roll that decided how an entire game would end. If he could’ve predicted the future, Reeve wondered if he would’ve been able to change the outcome. Probably not. Things tended to happen as they did. There was no command function to undo regrets and mistakes.

\--

_  
_

__

“I just don’t think that Shinra company is the best place for you. Did you read about what they did in Wutai? The paper says all those nice, little villages –”

“Mom, that was war. I don’t like it anymore than you do, but that’s just the way it is. Some sacrifice is necessary for the greater good. Think of it like an acceptable risk model. And besides, my work doesn’t have anything to do with that.” Reeve rolled his eyes. 

Explaining the nuances of mechanical engineering to his parents was like teaching a chocobo to code software. Everyone in their small town was the same; narrow-minded, unable to see the exciting possibilities of the future. They didn’t trust anything that wasn’t reported in the local news. Swirling conspiracy theories about Shinra were the talk of every bar and cafe. 

He couldn’t leave fast enough. Midgar was a true hub of innovation and opportunity, somewhere his skills would be appreciated. 

“You don’t understand how great the Mako Reactors are going to be.” Reeve went on, speaking faster as his annoyance grew. “We’re going to change peoples’ lives! Accessible energy for everyone, even the people in the slums.”

His mother frowned. She never came close enough to reproach, but the lingering disappointment was somehow worse. “We’ve done alright here, son, relying on the sun and stars and seasons. If more folk listened to the planet, they’d do alright too.”

Out of touch seemed too mild a turn of phrase to describe his mother’s dedication to rural life. Their perfect countryside bubble, ignorant of the wider world. “The people of Midgar don’t have that luxury. They can’t even see the sky in some sectors.”

That surprised her and a look of incredulous horror crossed her face. “No sky? Then why do you want to move there? Didn’t you get enough of the city life at university?”

“Because it’s my job!” Reeve shouted at last. He hated how one argument with his parents could break the practiced calm of his demeanor. “I’m the youngest engineer at the company. The President called my schematics for the reactors genius, wants me to plan the entire city around them. Don’t you know what that means? I’ll be working alongside some of the greatest scientific minds of our time, like Professor Hojo, improving the lives of thousands.” Heaving a sigh, Reeve dropped his house key on the table. “I thought you and Dad would be proud of me, but now I see that was an unrealistic calculation.”

“We’ve always been proud of you, son.” His mother’s hand hovered over the key. 

He let the words linger as he slammed the door.

\---

Five years went by. He never visited. Why the hell would he? There was nothing in that town but backwards ideas and stagnation, frozen in time. He always promised to visit, but there was always something else. Work kept him busy. His evenings were spent networking with top level scientists and executives, attending parties and pretending to enjoy their company. That was work too, but it was worth it.

The pay off came when he was made Director of Urban Development. The board of directors, the president’s inner circle, it was all coming together and he couldn’t be more intoxicated by the thrill of it. There were so many changes he was going to make for the city. In another five years, the slums might even be a thriving business center. Mako Reactors would help shrink the poverty rate by at least fifteen percent and he’d think up new designs and inventions that would carry the city to ever more greatness. 

Nothing brought his spirits down several notches like a visit from his parents. He supposed they’d grown skeptical of his promises to visit, of the dozens of last minute cancellations for holiday gatherings he’d sworn he’d take time off for. Reeve resented the three days he’d taken off last minute when they’d arrived at his mother’s insistence that he spend some time with them.

Their unimpressed, vacant looks as he lead them around the Shinra Museum were already igniting his annoyance. He wasn’t about to debate his father on the benefits of Mako again. The man simply saw everything through the lens of nature’s great destiny and whatever other small town nonsense he’d spout to refute actual science.

“You sound so different.” His father remarked while Reeve was trying to explain the finer points of the space program, a thing that would have impressed most. 

“Yes, well,” Reeve straightened his tie. “I wouldn’t exactly be taken seriously with that backwoods accent.”

“If you have to change everything about yourself, sounds like they already don’t take you seriously.” A snort of disapproval invited another raging debate, but Reeve wasn’t about to have it out with his father on company property.

His mother wrapped her arm around his elbow to smooth the tension. “You always were so good with machines. I remember when you were seven and you made your first robot. It looked like a hedgehog pie from your favorite book, remember? Oh, you used to love animals. Is there a zoo around here? Maybe we can go to the zoo next.”

“No, Mom,” Reeve ran a hand over his face. “There’s no zoo.”

“Course not,” his father shook his head. “Those damn reactors have gone and made the land uninhabitable for the animals.”

The annoyance that had been boiling beneath Reeve’s well polished demeanor broke at last. “I built those damn reactors.”

“I try not to think about that.”

“Then think about this,” Reeve pulled his arm free. “Not everyone is content to scrape by off some miserable plot of land until they die. Some of us want to make a difference in the world.”

“So because you’re on Shinra’s goddamn board, you’re too good to visit now?” His dad yelled, turning the attention of the other museum patrons to them. 

Reeve’s ears burned and he tried to lower is voice so his father would follow suit. “Do you realize how important my work is?”

“Oh, I know all about it. Read about it in the paper everyday.” Anger and disgust lit his father’s gaze, a mirror of his own or so his mother always said. “Stealing from the planet must have you pretty busy. What’s going to happen when your new friends bleed Gaia dry? When you get in over your head and realize you can’t find your way out again?”

“I imagine I’ll rise to the occasion.” Reeve straightened his suit jacket, folding the pocket square his mother insisted he carry. “I’ll get you a cab back to your hotel.”

“Oh,” his mother’s tone rang with sudden urgency. He turned back and frowned at the anxiety in her face. “We didn’t get a hotel, Reeve. We’ve moved to Sector 5.”

“You what?” He couldn’t help screaming it. The idea of living thousands of miles away from his disagreeable parents was to avoid the daily torture of dealing with moments like these. “You moved here? But you hate the city!”

“We wanted to be closer to you.” A thin smile crossed her face.

“You didn’t even ask me!”

“Please, son, I miss you.”

“No, absolutely not.” He could hear his mother rationalizing why exactly they’d moved within driving distance of his work, as if he were a child that needed looked after, but the words muffled beside the furious pounding in his head. Gaia, no. Next they’d want him to drag them to dinner parties so they could tell the president himself what a terrible job he was doing. 

“No?” His father’s anger matched his.

“I won’t let anything get in the way of my work.” Reeve tried once again to compose himself. “I’m sorry, but you should have asked me first. Having you here isn’t good for my career and you know that.”

His mother opened her mouth to speak, but his father took her hand and lead her towards the cab landing. “Then don’t worry about it. We won’t bother you again, son. You have your seat on the board and your high up Shinra friends and your great ideas. If you ever figure out that you need us again, we’ll be here too.”

\---

He hadn’t meant for the silence to last as long as it did. First he was angry. Then it became habit. He stopped sending letters. He thought about visiting, but there was never any time, even though his parents lived a train ride away. 

Then his father died. Sudden, unexpected. Heart attack. His admin delivered the news. 

It felt wrong to go to the funeral with the years of estrangement growing between them like an inescapable chasm. He’d decided to go, even put on his best suit for the ordeal, but at the last minute he couldn’t bring himself to. A mix of feelings stalled him; shame, embarrassment, regret, though he hadn’t wanted to call it that at the time. 

In the end, he’d sent Cait Sith instead. The plushie cat was useful for checking up on his aging parents through the years, even when he couldn’t bring himself to show his face around them anymore. He doubted his father would have wanted him there, but the murmurs of sorrow from his mother at his absence left a harsh sting.

“I thought for sure he’d come this time, just this once to say goodbye.” She’d said.

–-

“Commissioner, the remaining sectors have been cleared.” Kunsel yelled in his ear.

Twitching back to awareness, Reeve realized some time had past in a kind of blank state. He checked the time on his phone. Seventeen hours. Seventeen hours and the evacuation was nearly done. He wasn’t sure how long he’d blacked out for, but by judge of the emergency vehicles around him, he’d been issuing orders and keeping everyone on schedule the way Cait Sith did with auto commands. A useful trait for certain.

“Good work,” Reeve nodded. 

“Thank you, sir.” Kunsel’s helmet didn’t allow for much expression, but he looked Reeve up and down. “We’re rotating in the next shift of responders now. Sir, you should get some rest. Let someone take your position for a few hours.”

“No,” Reeve shook his head. “I’m fine. What’s happening with the Red Zone?”

“It’s not good, sir.” Kunsel didn’t press the issue of Reeve’s inevitable collapse. He’d add it to the slot roll and try not to fall asleep while carrying people out on stretchers. “It’s overrun by monsters and there’s just too much debris. Our transports can’t make it through.”

“So?”

“So we’ve decided to close the zone.” Kunsel swallowed, anticipating rage or annoyance maybe, but Reeve was too exhausted to muster either. “I’m sorry, commissioner. There were only a couple hundred left.”

“And we’re just going to leave them there to die?” Reeve clenched his fists.

“There’s no way to retrieve them without substantial casualties.” Kunsel hung his head. “Every operation has a few sacrifices.”

“What might be a few to you is everything for them.” Reeve flung his hand at the tunnel’s entrance. “Is the Shadowfox still parked out back?”

“Yes, but you’ll never fit a hundred people in that beat up van.” Kunsel chased after him. “Commissioner, that’s suicide.” When Reeve didn’t respond, he grew more desperate. “Let me rally a task force to come with you then.”

“No,” Reeve paused long enough to make sure Kunsel heard him and understood. “I won’t risk our operatives on a mission that isn’t likely to succeed.” 

“But what about you, sir?” Kunsel sounded doubtful.

There wasn’t anyone waiting on Reeve to return. In the grand scheme of things, the planet wouldn’t notice of absence, Director or not. He was going to miss annoying Cloud and the gang with terrible puns and half baked fortunes, but that was a small price to pay. 

Still, he would’ve liked to go to Gold Saucer one more time. And he’d miss cracking jokes about Gyahaha and Kyahaha with Barret and Vincent. It probably wouldn’t be as funny now anyways since they were dead and laughing at the deceased was a bit crass.

Then again, that hadn’t ever stopped them. One time, on a particularly mundane work day, Yuffie had convinced him to leave a spreadsheet open on his computer and play “Shinra office scavenger hunt” instead. He’d used Cait Sith’s camera to take them on a tour of the worst features of the building, including crashing a low level team building seminar and stealing half the snacks. She’d convinced him to snap a picture of Gyahaha’s butt crack and photocopy it across every department.

They never did catch the person who did it.

“Sir?” Kunsel asked again.

“Go back to the main tunnel and have someone switch shifts with you. Go check on your family. Don’t you have a brother in Sector 6?”

“Yes, sir,” Kunsel murmured. “They got out okay, but I haven’t been able to talk to them since Meteor hit.”

“So go do that.” Reeve jumped into the van and revved Shadowfox’s engine. He’d forgotten about the Lil Stamp CD still left in the car’s tape deck until the anthem blared to life around them. It wasn’t exactly the kind of heroic farewell he’d wanted, but he ignored the bubbly chorus and returned Kunsel’s grim salute before driving off into the night.

Smoke obscured what was left of the highway. One of Shadowfox’s headlights was out, making the visibility worse. As he drove closer to the Red Zone, the cracks of luminous glow brightened the road enough for him to catch a glimpse of the damage. Entire buildings were down. The rest were unstable at best. He swerved to avoid a falling guard rail, tires screeching on broken pavement.

A section of the road was missing. All too late, Reeve slammed the gas down and tried to make the gap. The van stalled and sputtered. After another moment of willing life back into it, Shadowfox crawled its way from the ruins, the sound of its tired engine rumbling a small comfort in the utter solitude. All of the emergency flares had long since faded and he couldn’t hear the sirens anymore. To say the Red Zone was eerie didn’t quite do it justice. A wasteland swept the once bustling main street. Tiny remnants of normalcy formed haunting landmarks; television screens flickering with last week’s news reports, a neon sign blinking with the words Loveless, abandoned cars and bicycles. 

He swore when three wererats sprang onto the dashboard. The monsters were ravenous, foam ringing their mouths, eyes gone wild from the close contact with the Lifetstream. He slammed the brakes and knocked them off, wincing at the sound of one of them catching under the tires.

It seemed like an eternity before he spotted another living creature that wasn’t a wererat or a wraith hound. Reeve pulled up next to a small band of stragglers. “Are you alright? How many are left?”

“The survivors took refuge in the old parking garage.” One of them shouted, coughing through the smoke. “Too many to fit in that thing.” He glared skeptically at Shadowfox. 

“Then we’ll have to make multiple trips.” Reeve tried to keep the authoritative edge to his tone. “Regroup with the others and get them to form teams. Get any injured in the first team. We’ll come back for the others.”

“Yes, sir.” The group ran off past the rubble, darting between fallen beams and broken windows.

The van couldn’t get around that way, so Reeve followed the back streets. Smashed by rubble was looking like a very real possibility on the slots, but he hadn’t anticipated a roadside accident being on the roll. Something – space debris, a piece of the plate, who knew – fell in his path. He knew before it hit that he didn’t have time to swerve. The sound of his front tire blowing seemed louder than it should against the haunting silence. 

The van screeched and spun out into a ditch. It flipped halfway onto its side, sending him into the dashboard. Blood spurted across his nose from the impact. To his utter disgust, the Lil Stamp CD somehow crackled to life long enough to play a few notes and die again.

Reeve wiped his nose on his sleeve and kicked the passenger’s side door open. The wheels were still turning, one of them damaged bad. Of course there was no spare. The longer he stood next to it, surveying the predicament, the more smoke got in his lungs and watered his eyes. Limping away from the vehicle, he reflected that his leg had gotten caught up in the brakes when the car flipped. Low howls echoed somewhere in the distance. The monsters would crawl out of hiding at the first sign of prey and he had no desire to be their dinner of choice.

“Guys, I need an assist –” the habit was second nature and Reeve’s phone was in his hand before he could stop himself. The screen showed zero bars. He wasn’t Cait Sith anymore. He was just Reeve and there was no one coming to help him. 

With a heavy sigh, he pitched the phone into the rubble. Darkness obscured wherever it landed.

Even if AVALANCHE had some wild inclination to assist Midgar, they wouldn’t be able to find him. No one knew what he looked like. Hell, he hadn’t even told them his name. They only knew Cait Sith, not Reeve. The memory of his misplaced confidence, of how he’d told them they’d never figure out his true identity and almost dared them to try, hit a note of stark irony. It was too late to do anything about it now.

Stretching his ankle to get the feeling back, Reeve limped in the direction of the parking garage. Maybe he could find another vehicle there or lead them out on foot or design a giant stuffed animal to carry a bunch of people out or –

“Stop right there, ya big cat!”

For a moment, Reeve thought perhaps he was hallucinating after inhaling too much smoke. That sounded like Barret Wallace, but that was impossible, because AVALANCHE’s leader was miles away at the Northern Crater. He didn’t know what Reeve looked like, a fact Reeve counted on very much when he’d taken the opportunity to go off on AVALANCHE’s questionable ethics and generally poor organizational structure. 

Essentially, he’d told the ecoterrorists’ gun-armed leader that his group was shit right after revealing himself as a spy and kidnapping the man’s daughter. A lot of choices didn’t hold up well in hindsight and very few held up well at all when staring down the barrel of a gun as Reeve found himself doing.

“How –” The question died before he could muster words when Barret shouted at him to freeze again. There was always at least one slot machine combination you could never, ever guess, no matter how good you were at predictive logic. It wouldn’t be the monsters, the falling rubble, the goddamn Meteor that took him out.

It would be Barret Wallace, who’d traveled a thousand miles just to yell at him, somehow managed to find him in the middle of a ruined city, and was about to shoot him in the head for all the shit he’d done. 

“I mean,” Reeve frowned and held his hands up. “That’s fair.”

He squeezed his eyes shut when the trigger went off. A reptilian screech forced them open again. Reeve jerked away as two drakes dropped to the ground beside him, dead. Another inch closer he would’ve been monster food.

Barret cocked his gun. “Ya look a little nervous there, partner.” He laughed and walked over to inspect Shadowfox. The van was pretty well totaled. “So where’re the survivors at?”

“The parking garage,” Reeve managed. Sweat dripped from his temple to his collar, stiffening against the fabric of his coat. He stumbled over his words as he stepped around the drake corpses. There were a thousand questions he wanted to ask, but there was no time. “I’ll take you there, but without a transport --”

Barret held up a frosted animal cracker. “Did you have my kid in this piece of shit car? Where the fuck did the car seat go?”

“Um,” Reeve flinched. “About that…” Whatever mercy was left in the world delivered him from explaining that he’d taken Barret’s four-year-old on a high speed chase through the city. A thin voice shouted from somewhere in the smoky darkness.

“Marco!” Yuffie’s chipper call grew nearer.

“Uh,” Reeve paused for half a second before answering. “Polo!”

“Marco!”

“Polo, polo, polo!” He screamed, climbing over rubble to reach her. It was a sensible idea, he supposed, given that they’d never met and there was no other way to identify where he was. Barret had probably found him through sheer vindictiveness and petty rage alone. When his materia hungry, ninja companion burst through the haze and tackled him in a hug, he reeled back. Heat rose to his ears. Reeve tried to push her off, but she clung to him like he was in fact a stuffed animal. He had half a mind to check and make sure his wallet wasn’t missing after.

“Found you! Surprise!” Yuffie giggled. She was speaking too fast for him to get a word in. “I knew it was you right away, but wow, you’re kind of adorkable, huh?”

“Uh,” Reeve was glad it was dark enough to obscure the blush burning his face. Yuffie loved torturing him every chance she got.

“Come on, Reeve, we’ve been traveling together forever now.” Yuffie laughed again. “Did you really think we wouldn’t be able to find you? I mean, yeah, this is kinda weird because I thought you’d have cat ears or a tail or something, but,” she shrugged. “I’m not exactly mad at this hot, sweaty nerd look either. It’s fine.”

“You dropped your phone.” Vincent appeared from the shadows and handed his phone back. Reeve had long since stopped asking how or why. They were here. That was all that mattered. This was, truly, the slot roll he hadn’t expected.

“So where can we land the Highwind?” Barret looked up at the sky, impatient.

“Land the –” the whir of propellers made Reeve realize he was serious. “You can’t land an airship in the middle of downtown Midgar! Think about the city.” He flung his hand out, prepared to launch into another debate on why Barret couldn’t solve every problem by blowing things up or wrecking buildings.

“Reeve,” Vincent was frowning at the Mako Reactor in the distance. “Midgar is already gone.”

The truth of his words settled in an unexpected way. The responsibility Reeve had been dragging around lifted. He didn’t need to keep carrying it. There were enough people to help hold it whenever he needed a rest.

“But we can still save the people in it.” Yuffie grinned. She pulled her radio out and told Cid to land the Highwind.


End file.
